Fugutaiten
by MaxxRide
Summary: GaaSaku. When rejection leads Sakura to a loveless curse, no one in Konoha can recognize her so she moves to Suna her new life leads to a new love. Rated M for language
1. curse and changes

**Fugutaiten **

Haruno Sakura, she had been training with Tsunade since she had entered the academy.

When the fourth died, the third did not become the Hokage again but instead he gave the position to Tsunade. And Sakura wanted to be a medic so she became Tsunade's apprentice at a very young age. Tsunade also taught her super strength.

She was not allowed to use those techniques until her training was complete, and it never came up in conversations with friends so no one ever knew.

Even during the Chuunin Exam, it was so hard for her to hold back the techniques she was learning. She always thought that Sasuke would've liked her better if he knew, but he never did.

She finished her training the day before Sasuke was leaving for Orochimaru.

When Sasuke was leaving for Orochimaru, she told him how much she loved him. He didn't return her feelings and his parting words were "Thank you."

He had no idea what he had done. And neither did she.

The only thing that kept the curse at bay was the hope that the Sasuke Retrieval mission would bring him back and he would return her feelings.

All naïve hope.

Tsunade had sent her on a mission to get her mind off Sasuke. And when Sakura came back, Naruto had already left on a training mission with Jiraiya and Kakashi was away on a long S-ranked mission, so she had to hear what had happened from Tsunade.

She locked herself in her house with no one to comfort her, because her parents had died 3 months ago and her team was away.

And the curse fully activated.

-------- 

Sakura always thought of it as a childish bedtime story. Never taking it seriously. She always thought of the pink cherry blossom petal on her left ankle as a joke tattoo put on by her mother, not a curse seal. 

Her parents never confirmed if it was true or not because she never asked.

The only copy of the book explaining the curse was in her possession so no one other than the Harunos knew about it.

The curse was supposedly given by a sorcerer a thousand years ago. He fell in love with Sonia Haruno, a brilliant scholar.

She was his first love, but she never returned his feelings much less gave him a chance.

It destroyed him; he was never able to love another. He was so enraged that he wanted her to feel his pain. Sonia and all her girl descendants were cursed.

The curse was that if a Haruno couldn't get her first love to return her feelings, she would no longer be abler to feel love again. 

Never… 

So basically, all female Harunos only get one chance at love.

But the sorcerer made it worse than just that.

All Harunos would bear a pink cherry blossom petal on their left ankle, (No surprise that Sakura became a common name in the Haruno family) and when they fail to get their love to love them back, the petal would turn black. As would their hair and their eyes world turn bright red.

Sakura didn't have many pictures of her relatives but her mother and grandmother did not fit the description of the curse.

So it all came as a surprise when the curse happened to her.

But instead of her hair turning black, her hair grew down to her knees the pink short hair she had was the last foot of hair, and the rest was black. Her eyes did turn bright red and she lost a very important emotion.

She looked in the mirror and then remembered the curse. She looked at her ankle to see that the petal was black.

_'So it is true…'_ She thought to herself.

Surprisingly she wasn't sad, she really didn't care. Probably part of the curse.

She looked at her hair it looked weird. So she took a pair of scissors and cut most of the pink hair off leaving her hair down past her waist, black and pink tipped. The pink was a small reminder of who she used to be. She wondered why her hair wasn't all black like the curse said, but she let it go, not really caring.

She took her headband off her head and put it around her neck.

She didn't think that her current outfit would suit her now, so she found some material and spent the rest of the night making a new one. 

It turned out to be a strapless black top that had a foot long midriff that revealed her strapless fishnet undershirt. Plain red armbands that matched her eyes were on her upper arms. She had a red skirt that also matched her eyes with two big slits on the sides to relieve a pair of black shorts that were about the same length of the skirt. She had the traditional ninja sandals, only black with fishnet stockings that went up to an inch below the knees.

She went off to her mirror, shook her head and laughed bitterly.

"Oh god, I look like a vampire." When she sarcastically said that she noticed that even her voice had changed. Her voice used to be so happy and cheery, and now you could hear the emptiness and depression in the words.

She was very curious to see how her friends would take her makeover the next day.

**A/N: I started a second fanfic. Sorry if Sakura's outfit doesn't sound good or emo. I'm not very good at designing outfits and I'm not emo (But I have nothing against them). Sorry its so short, this is just the introduction the rest of the chapters will be longer. There was one night I couldn't fall asleep and I came up with like 5 fanfic ideas, this was my favorite so I put it up first. If you're wondering what the title means you'll find out later because I'll be sure to explain it in another chapter.**

**So is it a good introduction to a story? Sorry if the details on the curse are kinda sketchy or hard to understand, it should become clearer as the story goes on. Please Review! **


	2. Amaya Kaage

"Yawn." 

Sakura looked at the clock to see it was 10:00. She took a quick shower and ate breakfast.

She got out of the house by 11:00.

It was all a normal way to start the day.

The only part of her day that was normal.

----- 

She found Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji outside of the flower shop.

She greeted them as she walked up to them, but they looked at her like she was crazy.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Ino spat.

"What, you can't tell it's me?" She asked her and when all three of them looked at her in disbelief she added, "Its me, Sakura." 

Ino pulled on her hair and Sakura didn't even flinch.

"That's real hair all right. Even if you dyed it you couldn't have grow it out so long in one night. And your eyes are red, and from what I can tell you don't have color contacts on. And your voice is too different, same with your outfit. There's no way you're Sakura. You're probably just some bitch who sucks at Henge." Ino rudely explained.

"Yeah, Sakura was a lot different than you, you're nothing like her." Chouji added to twist the knife.

Shikamaru walked over to Sakura and did the dispel genjutsu on her. When nothing happened he said, "That proves it you're not her." 

Sakura tried explaining about the curse, but when she did Ino just laughed and said, "My family's techniques are mostly for spying, so I've done a lot of research. I've know about all of the cursed clans in Konoha, I've never heard of a Haruno curse."

Sakura then remembered that the only copy of the curse was in her possession, so no one other than the Harunos knew about it.

_'Damn'_ She thought.

Wasn't this the time where she was supposed to feel hurt? Sakura just remained emotionless.

She moved down one of her armbands down to her lower arm and then she pulled out a kunai.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ino asked.

"Checking a theory." Sakura replied blankly.

She cut open a big gash where her armband used to be.

_'I was right; there's no pain. Where'd it go? Why doesn't it hurt?'_

She licked away the blood that was dripping and then healed herself. It you hadn't seen her two minutes before you never would have known she had got hurt.

As she was putting her armband back in the proper place Ino continued talking, "And Sakura wasn't a medic ninja. There's no way in hell you could be Sakura. Now get lost!"

"No way in hell huh? Well I guess hell can surprise you sometimes." Sakura spoke too low for the others to hear.

She walked away from the group and as she was leaving she shot them the finger.

By then Ino was really pissed. " Where the hell do you get off bitch?" 

She flung a kunai at Sakura's head.

With perfect reflexes Sakura turned and caught the kunai in between her fingers, completely unscathed.

"A kunai? Pathetic." Sakura shot it right next to Shikamaru's foot and walked off.

Once Sakura was a mile out of earshot, the threesome started talking. 

"What was that?" Ino asked her companions.

"I don't know." Chouji replied.

"Probably just some emo freak trying to pull a bad joke. So just forget it." Shikamaru told them.

"But that reminds me. Sakura's been depressed ever since she heard the result of the Sasuke Retrieval mission. So we should go see her and cheer her up!" Ino suggested.

"What? Aren't you guys rivals?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can leave her on her own so she can sulk. Come on, we can go see her now!" Ino said and without really giving them a chance to answer, she began to drag her teammates along with her to Sakura's house.

_'I still don't understand these troublesome women.'_ Shikamaru thought bitterly.

----- 

Sakura found Hinata's team training. She greeted them like she had Ino's team and they reacted like Ino's team had.

"Who are you?" Shino asked the intruder.

"It's me, Sakura."

"S-Sakura?" Hinata said in disbelief.

"Sakura Haruno? The one on Naruto's team?" Kiba asked as he stepped closer to her. " You don't look like her or smell like her. And your voice is different, I think its safe to say you're not Sakura."

Sakura tried explaining about the curse but Shino said about the same thing that Ino had. That he had never heard of it, and because he hadn't it didn't exist.

Sakura rolled her eyes and left.

As she was walking away from Hinata's team she spotted a little kid. She didn't glare at him or anything just gave him the same blank, emotionless look she had been giving everyone that had crossed her path that day. And guess what?

The kid burst into tears.

Sakura eyes widened a bit and she walked quickly away from the kid.

Once Sakura was away from Hinata's team they started talking.

"I think that we should go see Sakura. You know, to cheer her up. I heard that she's been depressed since she heard the results of the Sasuke Retrieval mission." Hinata suggested.

" I guess so. But I'm not sure about me and Shino coming. I mean we don't know her all that well."

"It would be a chance to get to know her, and become closer friends and all."

"We've had enough training today. I don't mind if Kiba comes along too." Shino added.

"Ah, fine. I guess that's what friends are for right?"

Hinata smiled at her teammates. And then they all headed to Sakura's house.

----- 

Sakura was thinking of anybody who might recognize her when a familiar voice rang out next to her.

"Ano, miss, have you seen a girl named Sakura recently?" Rock Lee asked her.

Sakura turned to face him.

She sighed. Then she said irritated, "You're looking at her."

"No way!" Lee shouted with no hesitation. " Sakura was so full of youth and was so cheerful! Her eyes were green, (Lee explains all of Sakura's differences as you have heard before from Ino) That's why you can't be her!"

Sakura frowned.

"Fine, believe what you want." She said blankly and with that she walked away.

Later, Lee meets up with TenTen and Neji.

"Ohayo Team!"

"Hey Lee." TenTen and Neji both answered just not at the same time. 

"Have either of you seen Sakura anywhere?"

"That Haruno girl? No haven't seen her." Neji said.

"I heard that she locked herself in her house after she heard about the Sasuke Retrieval mission." TenTen informed him.

"Alright then! Let's go visit her and cheer her up! She is so full of youth that it would be a waste to stay depressed!" Lee then grabbed his teammates and dragged them along with him. Neji didn't really want to go, but TenTen kind of wanted to cheer Sakura up too.

----- 

"Tsunade-shishou. Are you busy?" Sakura asked as she arrived at the Hokage's office.

" 'Tsunade-shishou'?" Who are you to call me that?" The Hokage asked her.

"Its me Sakura." Sakura told her.

"Sakura? Impossible." Tsunade moved away from her desk and got closer to Sakura. "Don't go impersonating my apprentice if you don't want to get hurt." Tsunade flicked her on her forehead.

"But Tsunade-shis-" Tsunade held up a hand to silence her.

Tsunade performed the dispel genjutsu on her and when nothing happened to her, Tsunade was convinced that Sakura wasn't Sakura. (Okay that sounds really weird)

"Get out now." Tsunade threatened.

Sakura hung her head and rushed out the door.

(With all of Sakura's concerned friends)

"Sakura! Are you home or not? Answer damn it!" Ino nearly screamed as she continued constantly pressing Sakura's doorbell until the poor doorbell couldn't take anymore abuse and it finally broke. Shikamaru and Chouji were backing away from her because she was so scary.

"Oi, everyone!" Kiba greeted Ino's team. "Look Hinata we aren't the only ones concerned about her."

"Huh? What are all these people doing here?" TenTen asked as she, Neji, and Lee reached Sakura's house right after Hinata's team.

"Are all of you here to see Sakura?" Ino asked trying to sound happy but she wasn't able to change her mood that quickly so her words sounded like an angry threat from a guard dog.

Everyone backed up in fear.

"Yeah…" Someone finally answered.

Ino finally calmed down. "Oh, wow. I didn't think that anyone other than Shikamaru, Chouji, and I would come to visit her." she took a break to sigh. "But it seems like she isn't here. I know Sakura, if she was home she would have answered the door by now."

"But I haven't seen her all day! Where could she be?" Lee asked really concerned.

"You know, if no one has seen her for a day, then something could have happened to her. So I think we should look for her." TenTen suggested.

"But first we should go to the Hokage, to see if she's not on a mission." Shikamaru added.

"Shino can you have your bugs check in Sakura's house just to see if she isn't asleep or doesn't want visitors." Kiba added.

Shino nodded.

His bugs got into the house through a slightly opened window.

A few minutes later after Shino's bugs had returned.

"She's not in there."

And with those words all of Sakura's friends raced off to the Hokage's office.

They got there a few minutes after Sakura had left.

"Hokage-sama, did you send Sakura on a mission?"

"Yes, but she came back yesterday morning."

"Well… then we think she's missing because no one has seen her all day and she's not at her house."

"What? Search all of Konoha just to make sure."

And with that they all left to search Konoha.

Sakura had already got to her house by the time they left the Hokage's office so no one ran into her.

They hadn't found her by sometime around midnight so they went back to the Hokage to report the bad news.

She didn't take it very well. She was gonna have to buy a new desk. 

She sent out ANBU to the neighboring villages to search for her. She would be hard to miss with her pink hair.

They came back in a week empty handed.

Tsunade was very upset. Sakura was like a daughter to her. But luckily she did have Shizune to comfort her.

And in all the commotion Sakura's friends were too upset about her being missing that no one remembered the Sakura 'imposter'. 

(With Sakura shortly after she had left the Hokage's office and came home)

Sakura came home to a broken doorbell. She wondered why it was broken but didn't think too much into it and let it go.

She looked in a mirror. Even her face had changed. She didn't look bad. Sort of pretty actually, in a gothic, depressed sort of way.

She laid down on her bed. And she began to reflect on her day.

1 No one recognized her.

2 She hadn't left a good impression on her friends as her new self. 

3 The Hokage was mad at her.

4 Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke were all gone and weren't coming back anytime soon. (Kakashi is on a long S-ranked mission just to remind you)

5 She was in a bitchy mood.

No. Definitely not a good day.

Life in Konoha would be hell if she stayed here. Then she had an idea. 

She decided to leave Konoha and head to Suna. Where she could try and become a sand ninja and start over with a new life.

Since no one in Konoha recognized her then nobody could hunt her down as a missing nin because they had no paperwork or evidence that she was ever a ninja in Konoha.

Except the forehead protector she was wearing around her neck. That she would probably have to get rid of.

It was a spur of the moment decision but Sakura was positive it was for the best. She had no regrets or second thoughts.

She packed the necessities: food, water, soap, (Insert stuff you would consider necessities here).

Then she packed her picture of Team 7, a picture of her and Tsunade.

And the book that explained the curse.

Then she went into her parents' room. She hadn't been in there since they had died.

She just wanted to say goodbye to everything. But then she found a little box on her mom's dresser.

It said on it, 'To Sakura, when she has finally bloomed into a beautiful cherry blossom'

Sakura then thought about it. Ino had told her at the Chuunin exam that she had bloomed into a beautiful flower, but what was she now? A dead black cherry blossom with no chance of ever blooming into anything beautiful, that's what, she was in her mind.

She packed it with her stuff. But she figured she would never be able to open it.

Then she left for Suna. She had been there before on a mission so she knew where it was.

When she walking to the Konoha gate she saw her friends rushing around frantically as if they were looking for something. She wondered what they were looking for.

She passed the spot where she said goodbye to Sasuke. His last words appeared in her head. "Thank you".

She walked past it and went on. It was now her turn to leave.

Before she got to the gate, she used Henge no Jutsu to change her appearance.

The guards asked her where she was going. She lied and said that she was going on a solo mission to the Rain village and they waved her off. 

When she thought she was far enough away from the village, she undid the Henge no Jutsu and took off her forehead protector and stuck it in her backpack.

It took her a few days to reach Suna and by the time she was in the desert she was out of water and food. It was as hot as hell but she wasn't sweating at all.

_'I feel like a walking corpse.'_ She thought bitterly.

She passed out in the desert from heat exhaustion, and dehydration.

(An hour or so later with Gaara)

Gaara was with Temari and Kankuro in a pub. They were getting drunk and on his nerves because they each had one arm on the other's shoulder, they were waving their other arm around while moving side-to-side singing the lyrics to the song 'Numa Numa'. God, were they even old enough to drink?

He left the pub and when he was outside he saw that it was around noon so he decided to go for a walk through the desert, which he did quite often.

He saw a bit of pink in the desert.

He was curious so he walked towards it. When he got closer he saw that it was someone's hair, and they were obviously buried in sand. 

Gaara figured that they had passed out and the wind had piled sand on top of them.

The only person Gaara had ever met who had pink hair was Naruto's weak girl teammate. Sakura was it?

Naruto was the only one who could ever understand Gaara's pain. Gaara considered them friends. So if it was Naruto's teammate he would have to help her.

He finally reached the buried girl.

"Hey, Sakura was it? Are you okay?" Gaara asked as he was brushing the sand off of her.

Sakura woke up "Huh?"

Gaara was disappointed. The girl didn't really have pink hair just black and pink tipped. This girl looked and sounded nothing like Naruto's teammate.

"What's your name, girl?" Gaara asked coldly.

"Amaya Kaage."

**A/N: I made this chapter really long. And 'Amaya Kaage' is Sakura's alias. ******

**Amaya means 'Night Rain' ******

**Kaage means 'Shadow' ******

**Together I guess it means 'Night Rain Shadow' ******

**And her previous name meant 'Cherry Blossom of Spring' ******

**And I learned that Gaara name is a pun on the phrase "I love death" how appropriate. ******

**I'm a fan of both Kankuro and Temari so don't think that I was making fun of them when I made them drunk. I just needed a reason for Gaara to go for a walk and that was all I could think of. **

**You know, I don't really think this chapter is my best work. If you like the sorry please be patient with me and I promise to make the next chapter better. I got nothing else to say so it ends here except for, please review!**


	3. Acceptance and the surprise

"So who are you?" The Kazekage (Gaara) asked the girl.

"I believe I already told you my name. Its Amaya Kaage." The Girl stated flatly. She had passed out in the desert and that was where the Kazekage had found her. And now it was as though he was interrogating her in his office.

His siblings had showed up too. Kankuro and Temari were sitting in chairs besides her.

"I mean who exactly are you? A ninja? A missing nin? What?" Kazekage asked.

Amaya thought on this. She was a missing nin but then again Konoha had no paperwork on her as she is now so... she wasn't exactly sure. "I'm not sure." She answered truthfully.

Gaara sighed this girl was irritating. "Then why did come to Suna?" 

"I hated my last village. So I came here to see if I could become a ninja here." She replied flatly.

"And what village was that?"

"An ally of your village."

"Which one exactly?" Gaara was about ready to rip off this girl's neck. 

"Doesn't matter."

"Answer the question girl." He growled.

"I was a ninja at my last village but they don't even remember that I was a ninja there so it doesn't matter because there are no documents saying I was ever there."

"And why is that?"

She shrugged.

Gaara sighed. He started rubbing his temples telling himself that he vowed not to kill unless it was necessary in battle after he met Uzumaki Naruto, so he couldn't kill this girl.

"What was your rank as a ninja there?"

"Genin. I'm also a medic ninja."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really? Prove it."

She pulled out a kunai and cut herself. Then she healed herself. "That enough proof for you?" She asked.

_'What's with this girl she didn't even react to the pain.'_ Gaara thought. This girl was weird yet interesting. He smirked.

"Ok. You can start as a genin of the Sand. You will be on the team with Temari and Kankuro, the people sitting next to you. They need a third person on their team to take the Chuunin exams anyway and I can't be on their team because I'm the Kazekage. And I'll see if there is a job at the hospital for you."

Amaya didn't show it but she was surprised that he actually agreed to it. "Okay." She said as she stood up to leave.

"You didn't let me finish. You can become a ninja if my siblings think that you are good enough. So they are going to test your abilities." 

"Okay." She said again.

"Come on. We can go to the training grounds and test you there." Kankuro said as he stood up and lead Amaya out of the room.

Once Amaya and Kankuro were gone, Temari started talking to Gaara.

"Are you crazy?" Temari asked. "You have no idea where she is from! She could be lying that she is from an ally of the Sand! And you just gave her permission to stay here as a ninja?"

"Weren't you and Kankuro drunk?" Gaara asked.

"I was faking it. It was too much fun to act drunk. You know I can hold my liquor better than that." Temari said. "Now, why did you let that girl become a ninja?"

He shrugged. "We're low on ninja because of what happened when Orochimaru tricked us into attacking Konoha and we need more medic ninja. If the girl is talented, the village may need her as a medic ninja. We will just have to see."

"That and you are curious about her because she obviously wasn't scared of you because of how she reacted to your questions and how you reacted to her answers. You were about ready to rip her head off and she didn't even flinch." Temari said.

He smirked confirming her suspicions. "Temari make sure to stop by the Academy to pick up a Sand headband for her if she is fit to be a ninja. And keep an eye on her just in case she does anything suspicious."

"Okay. But I already think that she is suspicious. I mean just look at her." She said and then she left.

(At the Training Grounds)

Amaya was looking around. It looked exactly like the training grounds in Konoha but without the surrounding trees and the ground was made of sand.

She punched the ground with her super strength to see if she could still make a carter even if the ground was made of sand.

She succeeded in making a carter.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" Kankuro asked.

"I was a testing a theory." She replied flatly.

"What theory?"

"If I could make a carter in the ground even if the ground was made of sand."

"What you guys started without me? How rude!" Temari playfully joked as she appeared at the training grounds after having her talk with Gaara and getting the headband for Amaya if she passed their little test. 

"No. I was just practicing."

"Ok, whatever. Lets get this over with-" Temari started to say but she was cut off by Kankuro.

"Oops sorry Temari. I just remembered I left my puppets at home let me go get them." Kankuro said as he started to leave. "You guys start without me."

"Kankuro! What kind of ninja are you? Leaving your weapon at home so you're completely defenseless? Baka!" Temari shouted after him.

"Gomen." Kankuro yelled back as he ran to his house.

Temari sighed. "My brother's an idiot. So lets get this over with." She pulled out her fan and sent a gust of air out at Amaya pushing her back.

Amaya pushed against the wind, did a somersault in the air and ended up jumping behind Temari. As she was about to land she used her fist to hit the ground full on with her super strength causing Temari to fall over and land on her fan.

"Not bad." Temari commented.

Then she got up and used Fûsajin no Jutsu (Dust Wind Technique). She blew a strong wind current that covered the entire training field in dust.

Her technique loosened Amaya's footing and made it hard to see. She wasn't sure what to do so she did the first thing that came to mind, which was to make another carter.

Surprisingly the sudden impact to the ground pushed all the dust back at Temari making her fall down again and allowing Amaya to be able to see again.

"You're pretty good. But can you do anything other than use that super strength of yours?"

Amaya ran towards Temari pumping chakra into her legs to go faster and she did a shadow clone jutsu to confuse Temari and catch her off guard. Then when she got close enough she punched her hard on the cheek sending Temari back a dozen yards. Then Amaya's shadow clones disappeared.

Temari wiped the blood off her cheek and smiled. She walked towards Amaya and pulled out the extra headband.

"Congrats you pass." Temari said. She handed her the headband.

Amaya accepted it and tied it around it around her neck.

Then Kankuro showed up. "Damn it. I missed the fight!"

"Its your fault for leaving your stuff at home!" Temari snapped.

"Oh well. So is she a ninja now?" He asked.

"Yeah. She passed."

"Okay then. The Chuunin exams are coming up in a month or so. So we will need her on our team." Kankuro said.

"Alright. Since you're a ninja now lets see about getting you a job at the hospital." Temari then lead her to the hospital and Kankuro left. 

When they got to the hospital. Temari and Amaya went to the front desk and asked if there was a position open for a medic ninja.

"Oh, you're the girl the Kazekage-sama talked about." The girl at the front desk said. "He said you had talent as a medic ninja but I will still need to test your abilities."

The girl lead Amaya away to test her abilities while Temari waited for her reading old magazines in the waiting room.

Amaya came back a half hour later.

"So how did it go?" Temari asked.

"I got a job here as a medic ninja."

"That's good. Hey where did you get training to be a medic ninja?" Temari asked curious.

"At my old village."

Temari inwardly sighed. This girl was really mysterious and secretive which made her all the more suspicious.

"Hey where are you going to live?" Temari asked.

"Don't know."

"Well come with me back to my apartment. I don't think anyone lives in the apartment next to me. Why don't we ask the owner?" Temari suggested. The reason she was being so nice and suggesting she lived next door to her was because she still didn't trust Amaya so she wanted to keep an eye on her.

Amaya nodded.

Turns out that Temari was right, no one was living next door to her apartment so Amaya moved in to the apartment.

(The Next Day)

"Okay so we are gonna do some training. Kankuro was right yesterday when he said that the Chuunin exams are in a month so we need to train. Especially you Amaya because you are the new one on our team." Temari said.

Kankuro and Amaya nodded.

Temari pulled out some blank cards.

"We are going to see which nature your chakra leans towards." Temari held one in her hand and it got cut in half. "If it gets cut in half you are wind-natured. If you are lightning-natured it gets crumpled. Fire, it burns. Water, it gets wet. Earth, it turns to dust. Those are the five elements that your chakra can lean towards nothing else. So give it a try." She handed one to Kankuro. 

It turned to dust. "As you see Kankuro is earth-natured and I think his puppets go along with that element." Temari explained. She then handed one to Amaya.

Amaya looked at the card in her hands for a moment before it did anything. 

Then it turned black.

**  
****A/N: I think it is becoming a habit of mine to leave cliffhangers. Oh well. So do you guys like it? I'm pretty much updating all my stories today. Even my new NejiSaku story and I started two new stories. Another ShikaSaku and another NejiSaku. And sorry that I suck at fights and battle scenes.******

**Reply to LynGreenTea: I might change her name back but as long as she is living in Suna she is going to be known as Amaya. ******

**Come on, Please Review! I only got one review for the last chapter!**


	4. Training

Amaya blinked in surprise. She looked from the card to up at Temari as if waiting for her to explain.

Kankuro and Temari just stood there dumfounded and wide-eyed.

"Temari? Explain please." Kankuro turned to his sister and said.

"I-uh don't know. I've never seen this happen. I thought that chakra could only be wind, fire, water, earth or lightning natured." Temari said still staring at the card.

"Wait! I got an idea! She is fire and water natured because when water puts out a fire its turns into black ash!" Kankuro said confident that he was right.

Temari turned her gaze to look at her brother. "No that can't be it. If it was ash then it would've turn into ash not just stay black."

"Gaara's here." Amaya said flatly and as if on cue Gaara appeared in a burst of sand.

'_She's good at sensing chakra. I didn't notice Gaara at all.'_ Temari thought.

"What are you doing here?" Temari asked.

"Checking on your training." Gaara answered.

"Oh really? Are you sure you aren't trying to escape from that huge pile of paperwork in your office? Kazekage_-sama._" Temari teased.

Gaara didn't answer just scowled at his sister.

"Uh Gaara? We got a problem." Kankuro said pointing to the card in Amaya's hand.

Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

Temari explained about the cards and what happened to Amaya's.

"Take it to the village elders." Gaara told them. And with that he left in another burst of sand.

"He seemed different yesterday." Amaya said flatly.

"He always seems different when he's doing his job as the village Kazekage. And I slipped sake into his water at the bar yesterday and he always gets talkative when he has alcohol in his system." Temari commented.

'_They have a weird family' _Amaya thought to herself.

"Come on lets go the village elders." Kankuro said eager to get the elders to explain and hopefully say that he was right about his theory.

Kankuro and Temari led Amaya to the village elders: Chiyo-baa-sama, and Ebizo-jii-sama. Then Temari showed them the black card and explained what happened. They thought on it for a moment and then Kankuro mentioned his theory.

"That's idiotic. It would have turned to ash." Chiyo-baa-sama said.

The word 'idiotic' in Japanese kanji fell on top of Kankuro's head anime style. Then he huddled in the corner in depression.

"Please ignore my brother. He has been acting a little weird this morning." Temari said to Chiyo-baa-sama.

"I'm not sure about what this card means." Chiyo-baa-sama said obviously giving it a lot of thought.

"Is it possible that her chakra leans towards shadows? I once meant a guy that could control shadows." Temari said.

"Hmm… I don't think so." Chiyo-baa-sama said, "Amaya-san was it? Could you please gather some chakra in your hand and try to make it visible."

Amaya gather her chakra in her palm. It was black. Then she released the chakra and it was no longer visible.

"Weird." Kankuro said from beside Temari no longer in anime depression.

"What's your surname?" Chiyo-baa-sama asked.

"Kaage." Amaya answered.

"See. Her last name does mean shadow." Temari pointed.

"Hmm…I don't know anything about that clan. Is there any special techniques your clan can do?" Chiyo-baa-sama asked.

Amaya thought about the Haruno curse. Maybe this had something to do with it. But in Suna, she is Amaya Kaage not Sakura Haruno so she couldn't tell them. So she just shook her head no.

"… I really don't know. The only thing I can think of is that your charka might be darkness natured, but I've never heard of that. I say you should try and do training on nature manipulation with your charka and see what happens. Because I've never seen this before." Chiyo-baa-sama suggested.

Temari, Kankuro, and Amaya nodded and left.

When they got back to the training fields it was dark so they just decided to call it a day.

When Amaya got back to her apartment she looked at the book explaining the curse.

Upon close inspection she noticed that quite a few of the pages were missing. She also noticed a small open where the book cover meet the book's hard cover.

When she pulled the pocket open a small folded up piece of paper fell out of it.

She read it-

_In hatred and anger she found power. Shunned by all she once knew, for who she now was._

_The darkness of her heart showed in her charka._

_Her power was over the dark, the black air. _

_She didn't know how to train when she discovered her charka's nature, but it all came to her. Almost literally, the black air flocked around her. _

_The empty void in her soul that the curse-_

It cut off there because the page was torn in half. Amaya stuffed the page back in the book and closed it.

The book seemed to be talking about her. Maybe she had power over the 'dark' or 'black air'. She decided to find out the next day. For now she needed to sleep.

(The Next Day at the Training Grounds)

Temari and Kankuro were practicing their techniques and sparing while Amaya was sitting off by herself on a rock.

"Is she being lazy? She needs to train! I'm going over there and telling her to start training!" Temari said as she began to walk away from Kankuro and towards Amaya.

But then darkness began gathering around Amaya. Temari paled in fear and began walking away.

"Kankuro, do you consider this to be something suspicious?" Temari asked.

Kankuro nodded.

"I'm going to go tell Gaara about this. You keep an eye on her." Temari said before running off to the Kazekage's office.

Amaya looked around her. It was odd. All she had to do was will the darkness to come and flocked around her like a shield. Just like that paper said.

She gathered the black air in her hand. She was always good at charka control so she was practicing controlling the black air before she used it to see what it could do.

(At the Kazekage's office)

"Gaara, I saw Amaya at the training grounds. The air around her was becoming darkness. I've never heard of a shinobi having a power like that!" Temari told him.

"Is there a point to what your saying?" Gaara asked.

"You told me to report anything suspicious about that girl, so I am. I think it was an act of insanity for you to let her in this village!"

"The girl was a rare power, it doesn't mean that she is evil." Gaara said flatly.

"You don't know that! Actually you don't know anything about that girl! She could be evil!-" Temari continued to yell in frustration until Gaara held up a hand to silence her.

"Or she could help the village with her power. Do you have any proof of her being evil? Has she done anything wrong?" Gaara said trying to end the conversation because his sister was getting on his nerves.

Temari opened her mouth to answer but then she realized that she didn't have any proof. She hadn't done anything wrong. She almost hadn't done anything at all, because she was so quiet and mysterious.

Temari head out the door without another word. But before she closed the door she said, "If this girl becomes a danger to the village, it will all be on your head."

Gaara sighed in relief when Temari finally closed the door and left. But he thought about her last words.

(Back At the Training Grounds When Temari finally got back)

"How did it go?" Kankuro asked Temari.

She shook her head in frustration, "Gaara just never listens to me."

The days and weeks passed as Amaya trained by herself with her new power and Kankuro and Temari trained with each other.

Amaya had never really started her job at the hospital. They told her to start after the Chuunin exams were over so she could have time to train.

Finally the month before the Chuunin exams was over and the exams were finally here.

**A/N: I finally updated! Sorry it took so long. Blame writer's block and the start of school. I found out something interesting when doing research for this story. Kishimoto Masashi said that he made Sakura initially unlikable by design. So I guess everyone that hates the real Sakura, not the one in my story weren't even supposed to like her.**

**Well, Please Review!**


	5. Chuunin exams part one

"We're here." Temari said pointing out the obvious as they arrived to Konoha's gates.

Amaya looked at her home village. Part of her didn't want to be here, didn't want to face her old friends. But the stronger part of her couldn't want to see what she could do in the Chuunin exams.

They showed their ID to the guards at the gate.

Then they were in Konoha. But something was different. The town seemed to have a gloomy air hanging over it.

Amaya noticed several posters of her former face that had the word 'missing' printed in big, bold letters right over it. And she noticed the big gaping hole in the Hokage tower.

"Okay, we will need to go to the first exam at 3 o clock. Right now its 11am. So lets go get some food." Temari said.

"Where at?" Kankuro asked.

Temari shrugged.

Amaya wasn't listening to either of them and was already walking into a grocery store. Kankuro and Temari decided to follow her.

Amaya was just picking out some random food to eat but when she grabbed a milk carton she saw her former face on it.

'_I've literally become the face on the milk carton.'_

Suddenly she lost her appetite, so she put her stuff back and was leaving when-

"Where are you going?" Temari asked holding an apple in her hand.

"I'm going to take a walk." Amaya said, as she continued walking not even bothering to turn around to face Temari when she was talking to her.

"Ok, but be back in time for the first exam." Temari said while she was giving her a suspicious look which Amaya couldn't see cause her back was turned.

Amaya nodded as she walked out into the streets of Konoha.

She had a destination though; she wanted to visit her old home. She still had a key. But when she stepped inside she found it in different condition then when she had left it. The ANBU had obviously been here looking for some kind of clue to where she might be.

Then the door opened behind her. So having no idea who it was, just that she didn't what them to find her here. So she jumped into a closet and hid herself completely in darkness.

"Ino, why did you drag us here on the day of the Chuunin exams?" Chouji asked.

"Yea, this is too troublesome." Shikamaru complained.

"Both of you shut up!" Ino yelled at both of them.

"I just came here…because…I don't know…I had a feeling…that…if…" Ino tried to say sadly.

"Its okay, we know you miss her. But she's not here, we don't know where she is right but we will find her. I'm sure of it." Chouji said trying to comfort her.

Amaya looked at her rival. Here she was, worried about Sakura. But in truth 'Sakura' didn't exist anymore. Amaya really didn't think that anybody would really miss her that much. But if they couldn't see her when she was right in front of their faces, even if she did look different then why should she care?

Just then Rock Lee came running in.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ino asked.

"Even though Sakura is not here right now, I know her spirit will bring me luck on the Chuunin exams!" Rock Lee said proudly. He was crying anime tears.

"Dude, she's not dead." Ino said annoyed.

But Lee was already running away yelling, "Sakura, and Gai Sensei! I will make you proud!"

Amaya was at a loss for words. Lee still had that pathetic crush on her?

The trio, InoShikaCho left not too long after Lee.

Amaya stepped out of the darkness when they were finally gone.

'_Better go now, Temari is probably pissed.'_

_-------_

"Where were you?" Temari asked. It was now dangerously close to the time that the first exam started.

"I was on a walk. Konoha is a big place." Amaya said plainly.

"Come on, let's go. We don't want to be late." Kankuro said.

--------

When Amaya, Temari and Kankuro arrived the room for the exam was already packed. No seats left. So they leaned against a walk hoping that the exam would start soon.

Amaya let her eyes scan the room. She saw Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru (A/N: I wanted him to be in the Chuunin exams so lets pretend that he hasn't become a Chuunin yet.) Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. Lee, TenTen, and Neji. Almost all the people she once knew.

Then some weird guy with a senbon in his mouth came in from the door on the opposite side of the room where all the genin came in.

Amaya recognized him as the third examiner from when she last took the exams. Genma was it? But where was Ibiki?

"Okay, everyone I am the examiner for the first part of the Chuunin exams." He sounded bored like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Then he held up a little paper tag with a number on it. "Turn in your application, then take one of these number tags and sit where the number tells you. After that we will pass out the papers for the written exam."

You'd think with all the Jonin in the room turning in the applications and getting a seat would have been a lot faster than it was, but it took forever.

But finally Amaya, Temari, Kankuro, and all the other genin were finally seated and the papers were passed out.

And of course that was when Genma started talking again. "In case all of you who took the exam last year were wondering Morino Ibiki isn't here because he just recently returned for one of his missions and he has to remain in the hospital for the next few days." A handful of kids from last year were punching their fists in the air and cheering softly. "So now to explain the first exam. The First Exam has a few important rules. I will not accept any questions so listen carefully.

"The First rule is you are all given ten points at the start. The written exam consists of 10 questions, and each is worth one point. This test is a deduction-based test. If you get one problem wrong, you will get one point deducted. If you get three problems wrong, your points will be reduced to 7.

"The Second rule, the pass-fail decision will be determined by your team's total points.

"Next rule, if an examiner determines that you cheated or do something similar during the test, each action will cause you to lose two points. In other words, there will be people who will be forced to leave this place without their tests being graded. Those who try to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves. You are all trying to become Chuunins. If you are a ninja act like a first rate one.

"Also if anyone in a team gets a zero, everyone on that team will fail. The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the exam begins. You have one hour for the exam." Genma said it all in a flat monotone as if he was reading from a script. And judging from the piece of paper in his hand, he was. Ibiki probably wrote it.

Genma watched the seconds tick off until he shouted, "Begin!" and the exam started.

Kankuro had told them beforehand that he would turn his puppet into an examiner and send his teammates the answers. But Amaya told him that she didn't need them.

The exam was the same as last year. The questions were different but still extremely hard for genin. But Amaya still answered them as easily as she had last year.

At random points in the exam teams were failed but no one Amaya knew had left yet.

She heard Akamaru barking. He was probably helping Kiba to get answers. Neji had his Byakugan on, but Hinata didn't, she was probably smart enough to answer the questions on her own. But then there were other people who were sneaking looks at other people's paper by glancing at them sideways, those were the people who failed.

Eventually the 45 minutes ran out and it was time for the tenth question.

"Okay! I will now ask the tenth question!" Genma announced. Everyone looked up at him in anticipation. "The tenth question is a competition within the three man team you've worked with. The three of you will compete for the tenth question, but one out of the three will fail. Those who fail will remain a Genin forever and will never be allowed to take the Chuunin exam again."

Someone shouted, "Then why were we working together all this time?"

"I am the rule here! I will not allow any complaints!" When Genma shouted that it would have been more threatening if he wasn't staring at his script the whole time. "If you want to give up you may do so. It's also an option to give up the exam now and wait six months to retake this exam. Of course if someone within your team gives up, all three of you will fail. However, you will be allowed to retake the Chuunin exam again six months from now. Now which will you choose?" Genma finally looked up to see all the genins surprised faces.

Amaya thought this over. Then she raised her hand and said, "I give up."

Both Temari and Kankuro were shocked and really pissed off.

Genma told Amaya to exit through the door in the front of the room. Amaya was a little suspicious. Why did they have them exit through the door in the front of the room when they came in from the door in the back of the room?

Soon after Amaya left, Temari and Kankuro were forced to follow. And they ended up in a small room, no one was in it besides those three but more people were sure to follow.

"What the hell were you thinking? You made us fail!" Temari shouted at Amaya.

Amaya was currently leaning against a wall with her arms crossed and her eyes closed when Temari shouted at her.

Then Amaya opened her eyes, looked Temari right in the eye and said, "I'm not an idiot. You and Kankuro would have made me the one to fail in a heartbeat. Sorry to disappoint you but I don't plan on staying a genin forever."

Temari sighed, _'I'll give her one thing, the girl definitely isn't stupid.'_

Then other people started showing up. All the genin who gave up and dragged their team along with them. She saw Shikamaru's team, Neji's team, and Kiba's team. Then there was a bunch of other teams she didn't recognize.

Amaya could hear Genma in the other room. He said, "This is a choice between your future and your comrades. Now's the time to give up if you are going to do so. Is anyone else giving up? Are you sure?" Genma smirked. "Well then, to all those who are left,

I declare you disqualified!" He finished, shouting loudly.

Amaya could here all the complaints. "What the?" and "We didn't give up because we were prepared!"

Genma answered with, "That kind of determination is the lowest of the low! Scum like you people have no right to become a Chuunin! That is all." And with that he left and entered the room where Amaya was.

"You all pass." Genma told them all.

Amaya looked at Temari and cocked an eyebrow. Temari averted her gaze. She didn't want to admit that if Amaya hadn't given up they all would have failed.

Of course there was some people who didn't understand, so he had to explain which took some time. And once he was done explaining he smiled and said, "I wish you luck."

And at that exact moment, a big ball of cloth came in crashing through the window. Two kunai came flying out and pinned the cloth to the ceiling. It was a big banner with the words "Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko is here!" so of course none other than Anko herself was standing in front of the banner. She said, "I am the Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko!"

The banner behind her was being redundant.

"Let's go to the next exam!" Anko continued to shout. "Follow me!"

Genma appeared out from behind the banner and said, "Grasp the atmosphere."

'_This examiner still reminds me of Naruto.'_ Amaya thought.

Anko looked around the room, "18 teams? No as many as many as last time but still a lot. The First Exam really is too soft."

Genma just rolled his eyes.

"Oh well, I'm going to make more than half the teams fail in the next exam anyway." Anko smirked sort of evilly. It kinda creeped some of the genin out. "I'm getting excited. I'll explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your Jounin teachers about the rally point and time. That is all. Dismissed."

So all the genin left.

Amaya's team didn't need to ask their Jounin teacher, Baki, about the location or time. They remembered from the last time they had the exam. But actually Baki wasn't their teacher anymore; well he never was Amaya's teacher but whatever. When Gaara became Kazekage, Baki was placed with a new Genin team. So Gaara was kinda like their Jounin teacher even though he wasn't a Jounin.

Amaya and her team stayed in a hotel where all the ninjas from other countries had to stay for the Chuunin exams. Amaya and Temari stayed in one room and Kankuro stayed in room with a grass ninja.

And so the next day they all reported to the Forest of Death. And listened to Anko explain the rules.

"This is where the Second Exam will take place. The 44th training area, also known as the Forest of Death." Anko smiled evilly again. "You will be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death." Amaya noticed a yellow signed pasted on the fence surrounding the Forest of Death, it said, "Warning, you may die." Talk about blunt.

"Now, before we begin the Second exam." Anko continued. "I'm going to pass these out to everyone." She pulled a big wad of Consent Forms out of her jacket. "Those taking the exam must sign these, because from here on, people will die. Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue. Otherwise I'll be held responsible." She laughed. It was obvious she had a sick sense of humor and that she probably didn't have a boyfriend. "Now I will begin the explanation of the Second exam. To be concise, you will all go through an extreme survival match." She handed the consent forms to the closest genin and he began to pass them out. "I'll explain the training area's geographical features. The 44th training area is a circular region surrounded by 44 locked gate entrances. There is a river, a forest, and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10km away from the gates. Inside this limited space, you will have to go through a certain survival program. The program consists of…" She pulled out two scrolls from her jacket. "A competition where anything goes…over these scrolls.

"The Scroll of Heaven and The Scroll of the Earth. You will fight over these scrolls. 18 teams in total passed the first exam. Half of those teams will get the Scroll of Heaven. The other half will get the Scroll of the Earth. Each team will get one of these scrolls. Simply, you have to fight over these. And to pass you must bring the Scrolls of Heaven and Earth to the tower with your teammates. So only half the teams at most can pass.

"But it needs to be done within the time limit. This Second Exam has a limit of 120 hours, or exactly five days. You will have to scrounge up food for yourself. The forest is a treasure box of nature. There should be plenty of food. However, there are a lot of man-eating beasts, poison bugs, and poisonous plants. People will get hurt in the process of fighting over a scroll, and those who cannot bear this program's strictness will emerge, as well. As a rule you are not allowed to give up during the exam. You will spend the five days in the forest.

"While we're on this topic, here are the conditions that will fail you. First, a team that cannot bring both scrolls to the tower with the three teammates will fail. Second, the team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail.

"Also, just as a note…You are not allowed to look inside the scrolls until you reach the tower." Then somebody asked what happens if we look at it? And Anko answered with, "That's a surprise you'll see when you look at it." And she smiled again. "If you become a Chuunin, you will be handling top secret documents. It's to determine your reliability. That is it for the explanation. We will exchange the three consent forms for one scroll at that hut." She pointed to the hut. "And after picking your gate entrance, everyone will begin at the same time." She sighed and said, "Here's one last piece of advice. Don't die!"

So everyone signed the consent forms and they finally announced it was time to exchange the forms for a scroll. When it came time for Amaya's team, they got the Heaven Scroll but they couldn't decide who was to carry it. Amaya offered but Temari of course didn't want her to and Kankuro didn't care.

"Kankuro's carrying his puppets, and you have to carry your fan, I'm not really carrying that much, so I should carry it." Amaya said flatly really not caring who carried it but she just want to be sensible about it.

"Temari just let her carry it." Kankuro said. He just wanted to get this over with.

Temari sighed and gave in. Then they left and went to the locked gate number 13. And before they knew it the gate was opened and the exam began.

They rushed in quickly jumping from tree to tree until Amaya stopped and jumped down.

Temari and Kankuro jumped down after her having no idea why she stopped.

"Hey, why did you stop?" Temari asked her.

Amaya simply nodded her to the side. Temari and Kankuro turned to look.

"You!" Someone came out in the direction that Amaya pointed out.

'_She really is good at sensing charka.' _Kankuro thought.

The guy who shouted walked closer to the sand trio. He and his teammates appeared to be from the Rain village. The one who shouted and seemed to be the leader of the team was pointing an accusing finger at the sand team. He was really pissed but Amaya had no idea why.

"You're the ones who killed my brother and friends at the last Chuunin exams!" The guy spat at them.

"What are you talking about?" Kankuro asked scratching his head.

"Last year. When my brother and his teammates didn't come back from the Chuunin exams we came here. They told us they died in the Chuunin exams; they showed us the footage of his death. It was you, the blondie and that guy with the face paint! You killed him!" He was getting angrier with every word.

"Wow." Temari said, "I had no idea they had cameras in this place. Cool."

That really pissed him off. "Where is that red-haired brat? He was also involved in their death! And who the hell are you?" He said pointing at Amaya.

"You know. We weren't the ones who killed those guys. It was all Gaara. We didn't lay a finger on them." Kankuro said. "But we were lucky to find some enemies so fast."

"Hey." Amaya said to get the guy's attention, "If your brother and his teammates were killed as easily as you say then they weren't even worthy of the shinobi title. You're wasting your breath trying to avenge them."

The guy from the Rain village got a good grip on his weapons and yelled, "Since you have the biggest mouth you die first!" Then he threw a bunch of umbrellas into the air and needles started spraying out of the umbrellas.

"How boring, this is the same technique his brother used." Temari said reaching for her fan but Kankuro held up a hand to stop her. That's when she noticed that everything was getting dark mostly around Amaya.

Then the guy controlling the umbrellas released the needles from the air and shot them down upon the sand team. But he couldn't see if he hit because it was all dark. Then he felt a million little stinging pains pierce his skin. He cried out in pain.

The darkness disappeared and the guy (No he is not worthy of a name) noticed all the needles _his _needles piercing his skin and also his teammates. And he saw that the enemies he was trying to get revenge on were completely unscathed.

He blinked and the girl with the black hair disappeared and then reappeared right in front of his face.

"Pathetic." Amaya said. "You can't control the needles if you can't see them." She punched him with a super strength enhanced fist. He flew back and hit against a tree. Blood was all over his face and all the needle wounds. The blast was so strong that his teammates were also pinned against trees too.

"Those needles. They're covered with poison, aren't they? So you'd die without my help. Oh well." Amaya raised her fist that was surrounded by the black air. "I guess no one in your family is worthy of the shinobi title." And with that she punched so hard in the stomach that it killed him. And she did the same to the other two because they were too weak from the poison to fight back.

"Remind you of someone?" Kankuro asked Temari.

"Yea." She answered.

Once Amaya was done she walked back over to them but Kankuro was busy taking the scroll from the corpses.

"Hey, we lucked out again! Its an Earth Scroll." Kankuro happily announced.

"Whatever. Lets just hurry up and get to the tower." Temari said. And they all started jumping away on the trees like all shinobi do.

They were able to reach the tower about four hours after the test started. Temari and Kankuro didn't get there as fast as they had last year because they had Gaara last year.

But it was still pretty easy. Temari would blow any dangers away with her fan and Amaya concealed them with the black air so nothing was able to see them.

And so yea, they opened the two scrolls and blah blah. All the teams gather together with the jounin teachers and the current Hokage. They gave them the stupid lecture about how the Chuunin exams are important and everything.

When the Fifth was done explaining she noticed Amaya. Tsunade had been doing research on her ever since she first saw her but came up with nothing. But she was not going to forget the girl who tried to impersonate her apprentice, especially since her apprentice had been missing ever since.

Lucky for her though when Amaya entered the Chuunin exam they now had a report on her, too bad it gave Tsunade absolutely nothing. It only said that she came to Suna after the day she tried to impersonate Sakura, and they had no idea where she was from. It was like she didn't exist before that day…

Technically she didn't…

Tsunade was keeping a close eye on Amaya. Probably no surprise though.

"Okay!" Anko shouted. "Now that the first two exams are over we move onto the third! Normally with this many teams left we'd have a prelimary but Konoha's and Suna's population of Chuunins and Jonins is low because of the 'incident' from last year's Chuunin exam. So we will precede to the final exam!"

A bunch of hushed whispers arise from the genin but are soon silenced when Anko begins speaking again. "Alright! You all have a week to prepare for the final exam! Dismissed!"

All the genins leave in a hurry.

'_If I'm stuck here for a week then how bad can hell be?'_ Amaya thought bitterly.

A/N: I wanted to put the entire Chuunin exam into one chapter but I figured I shouldn't make you guys wait any longer. I'M SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED FOR MONTHS NOW!!!!!! But I'm not going to bore you with the excuses.

**Now that I think of it I don't have much to say in this authors note. Oh well, I'm trying to updated all my stories because I haven't updated a lot of them in a while. But if I'm lucky I will try to get the next chapter up in a few weeks. No matter how long it takes me to update I'm not going to discontinue this story, I like it too much.**

**THANK YOU TO ALL MY REVIEWERS!!!!!!!!!!!! **

**Please Review! The more reviews I get the sooner I will update!!**


	6. Chuunin exams part two

"Temari, it would be easier to sleep if you would quit glaring at me." Amaya said before opening one eye and focusing it on her roommate in the other bed.

Temari scowled she didn't like having to stay in the same room as Amaya and they were still stuck in Konoha for six more days, six more days with _her_.

Since Amaya saw that Temari was still glaring she turned on her side to face her. "What is it that you have against me Temari?"

Temari began listing reasons off in her head:

_I have absolutely no idea what your past is and who the hell you really are._

_Your ninjutsu screams suspicious._

_You piss me off._

_I don't trust you._

_I can't beat you in poker._

Amaya just turned back around after she didn't get an answer. "One last piece of advice Temari, don't keep glaring, your face might freeze like that and then it will be even harder for you to get a boyfriend."

'_Reason number three! There it is! Reason number three!' _Temari shouted angrily in her head.

(The Next Day)

Temari awoke to find Amaya gone. She found it as no surprise, but it made her wonder just exactly what Amaya was doing in the early morning in Konoha.

----------------Elsewhere--------------------

Amaya looked around at the bright morning sky and realized how much she missed the nighttime, the darkness. Another thing she missed was the Sand Village, she had only been there a month and only away a week but she missed the sweltering heat and the sand it was so nice there in comparison to Konoha which reeked with the scent of her old life. The little pink cherry blossoms were enough to make her puke.

After spending the first day of her break from the Chuunin Exams beating Temari in poker it was nice to get away from her annoying death glares. She hoped that no one would find her on the tall building she was resting on.

It was as if her thoughts were a jinx because no sooner did she think that than Shikamaru showed up.

Shikamaru's eyes widened when he saw Amaya and he sighed, "Ah, troublesome I just came up here to cloud watch but now you're here." Amaya kept looking at him but she didn't say anything. "Just who are you? You show up a month ago saying that you were Sakura even though you look, sound, and act nothing like her. Then Sakura disappeared. And now you show up for the Chuunin Exams with a Sand Village headband around your neck! I repeat who are you?"

Amaya got up and started to walk away.

"Hey!" Shikamaru exclaimed as he grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving.

Amaya turned around to look at him. "I have nothing to say to you." She spat at him flatly as she ripped her hand away from Shikamaru. "Just what is it that you are accusing me of?"

"You tell me." He said. "Just what am I accusing you of?"

"Something I didn't do." Amaya said looking straight into his eyes.

Shikamaru had no way to tell if she was lying, because she was straight faced and all of her words were strung together with not a single thread of emotion.

"I don't know who you think I am or what you think I did but all I can tell you is that you're wrong." Amaya said leaving a speechless Shikamaru stunned as she disappeared into the stairwell.

'_If I have to spend the rest of this week playing poker to avoid running into anyone then poker it is.' _She thought bitterly to herself.

And that's how she spent the rest of the week, until the Third Exam finally rolled around and the three Sand ninjas found themselves standing in the arena facing a roaring crowd, and above them the Hokage and the Kazekage. Also, Genma was there again now as the Third examiner instead of the substitute for the First examiner.

"Ok. So I see that everyone is here. No one is late this year, fortunately. Let's get started. Here's the tournament layout." Genma said with his signature senbon in his mouth as he held up the piece of paper outlining the whole Third Exam.

Amaya ---------------

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Shikamaru-----------

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Shino-----------------

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Taro------------------

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Ino-------------------

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Tetsuya--------------

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Aoki------------------

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Nobara--------------

Kankuro-------------

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Chouji---------------

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TenTen--------------

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Ronin----------------

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Neji----------------

-----------------------

Tsubasa-----------

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Sonia--------------

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Naotoka----------

Temari-----------

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Hinata------------

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Lee---------------

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Yumi-------------

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Kiba--------------

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Kaname----------

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Tetsuki-----------

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Yuki--------------

"Now it's time for the first match. Everyone but Amaya and Shikamaru clear the arena." Genma told them.

And so all of the genins in the Chuunin Exams cleared the arena as the crowd cheered for the start of the first match.

"Ah, troublesome. Why do you have to be the one I fight?" Shikamaru sighed.

"Do you plan to fight with your words?" Amaya said simply.

Shikamaru jumped back and perform the seals for his Shadow Imitation Jutsu, and when he began to stretch his shadow towards Amaya she punched a crater in the ground between her and Shikamaru. Shikamaru assumed that it was to make him have to stretch his shadow farther and weaken his hold on the shadow, but that thought was cast aside when Amaya did a flip in the air after making the crater landing on the side where Shikamaru was and right in his shadow. Shikamaru then figured that she made a mistake or didn't know what his shadow did, but…_he was wrong._ Shikamaru stood up out of the crouched down position he always started his technique in, and started walking towards Amaya.

_Amaya didn't move._

Now Shikamaru was shocked, and it was all over his face. Amaya smiled evilly. He stopped walking for a second, to try and figure out why his technique wasn't working. While Shikamaru stood still, Amaya started walking towards him, slowly just to taunt him.

When he was within punching distance Amaya told him, "Shadows can't control me, I control them." And with that she hit him in the gut, hard enough for him to spit up blood, but she hadn't used her super strength. He staggered back a few steps and crumbled down on the ground holding his aching abdomen. But he didn't take very long to stand back up and perform the seals for the Shadow Neck Bind jutsu, he still had his Shadow Imitation jutsu in effect even though it did nothing. The shadow creped up from the ground towards Amaya's neck but she smirked and the shadow retreated back into the ground. Shikamaru was again surprised as the shadow hand disappeared, but even more so when it reappeared and started creeping up towards his throat. He quickly undid the jutsu, but as he was busying focusing on that Amaya punched him in the face, this time with her super strength, sending him straight into the wall. He was injured, pretty badly but not enough to knock him unconscious.

Amaya stood still and stared blankly at Genma before he announced that she had won and then she left the arena to join the other genins waiting for their turn. Shikamaru followed he wasn't hurt badly enough to go to the hospital, but he was close.

The audience was now all abuzz with people whispering about the match and more specifically Amaya. But above them all Tsunade's mind flooded with a million questions about Amaya and who the hell she was. Her eyes then focused on Suna's Kazekage, Gaara who was sitting right next to her.

"Who is that girl?" Tsunade asked him.

Gaara looked over at Tsunade and just shrugged.

"Wait," Tsunade said getting a little frustrated. "That girl is a shinobi of your village and you're telling me that you don't know who she is?"

"I know her name if that's what you mean." Gaara told her simply. "But I don't know who she is. Not exactly, at least."

"What do you mean? How could you not know who she is?" Tsunade asked.

"I mean that I don't know her." Gaara said, "I found her lost in the desert a month ago and let her join the Sand Village as a ninja."

"You mean that you let her join your village when you knew nothing about her?" Tsunade asked.

"I knew that she was powerful." Gaara smirked.

And that was the end of their conversation.

As time went on the matches continued, until the first round ended. Team Sand made it into the next round.

Recap of the First Round:

First Match: Amaya vs. Shikamaru Winner: **Amaya**

Second Match: Shino vs. Taro Winner: **Shino**

Third Match: Ino vs. Tetsuya Winner: **Ino**

Fourth Match: Aoki vs. Nobara Winner: **Nobara**

Fifth Match: Kankuro vs. Chouji Winner: **Kankuro**

Sixth Match: TenTen vs. Ronin Winner: **TenTen**

Seventh Match: Neji vs. Tsubasa Winner: **Neji**

Eighth Match: Sonia vs. Naotoka Winner: **Naotoka**

Ninth Match: Temari vs. Hinata Winner: **Temari**

Tenth Match: Lee vs. Yumi Winner: **Lee**

Eleventh Match: Kiba vs. Kaname Winner: **Kiba**

Twelfth Match: Tetsuki vs. Yuki Winner: **Yuki**

The second round began, Amaya versus Shino.

Shino was aware that Amaya would be a tough opponent, he had seen her beat Shikamaru but he still was confident that his normal technique would work on her. He set his bugs free and they all started flying towards Amaya.

Amaya set free the black air, engulfing herself, Shino, and all of his bugs. The black air, though similar to Gaara's sand is not the same at all. Amaya had discovered in her training that the black air stole the senses of whatever it fully engulfed. A human wouldn't be able to touch, hear, see, smell, or taste anything but the black air and a human devoid of its senses would slowly go insane. It wasn't the same for Amaya; she was able to use all her senses but could easily turn them off in the black air, not that she could really _feel _anything. If she was ever trapped in the black air she wouldn't go insane, no, she found it comforting. But anything other than a human, let's say a _bug_ would go insane, and die in a matter of minutes.

Amaya watched Shino and his bugs wander around confused and utterly lost in the black air, but all the audience saw was a thick blob of darkness in the center of the arena.

After five minutes Amaya withdrew the black air. No damage was done to Shino but he was pretty angry when he saw all of his bugs lying on the ground around him dead. In his anger he ran at Amaya and threw a punch at her. She dodged and used the momentum to spin around and hit him hard in the side of the head with a super strength enhased kick. Shino fell down on the ground, knocked completely unconscious.

Amaya just stood there looking down at him until Genma announced her as the winner and she left the arena, but Shino had to be taken out in a stretcher.

(Meanwhile)

"Shikamaru? Are you okay?" Ino asked her teammate. "You look pretty beat up."

"I'm fine." He said. "I just don't understand why my shadow techniques didn't work on that girl."

"I was wondering that too." Ino admitted.

"She said that shadows can't control her, she controls them." Shikamaru told her.

"Is that what she meant?" Ino asked gesturing down at the blob of darkness in the arena.

"I guess…" Shikamaru trailed off in thought, "I just really wanted to beat that girl, she claimed she was Sakura and the same day Sakura disappears. Then a month later she shows up at the Chuunin exams with the Sand. I didn't want to lose to her…"

"Looks like she beat Shino too." Ino said watching the end of the match. "I'll win my next match and then I'll face her in the third round. I'll kick her ass for you Shikamaru," She smiled at him and then paused before adding. "And Sakura."

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Recap of the Second Round:

First Match: Amaya vs. Shino Winner: **Amaya**

Second Match: Ino vs. Nobara Winner: **Ino**

Third Match: Kankuro vs. TenTen Winner: **Kankuro**

Fourth Match: Neji vs. Naotoka Winner: **Neji**

Fifth Match: Temari vs. Lee Winner: **Temari**

Sixth Match: Kiba vs. Yuki Winner: **Kiba**

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Third Round, First Match: Amaya versus Ino.

The start of the match was announced and Ino didn't wait a second before launching a punch at Amaya. Amaya dodged it but Ino kept throwing punches, so Amaya kept dodging not even bothering to try to hit her. What Amaya didn't realize was that Ino was backing her against the trees. She caught on right before Ino started to pin her to a tree with clear wire, Amaya could have escaped from it easily but she wanted to see what Ino was going to do.

As soon as Ino made Amaya immobile she performed the seals for her Mind Transfer Jutsu. Ino launched herself into Amaya's mind. Yet…it didn't work out the way she wanted.

A few minutes passed…and Ino performed the release seal. Once she was back in her own body she screamed. What she saw in Amaya's mind was almost the equivalent of hell.

Amaya broke the wire tying her to the tree, and started walking towards Ino. Ino shot up suddenly and got on the offensive again. But now Amaya just wanted to end the fight so she didn't just dodge Ino's blows, she started throwing hits at her too.

The fight wore on a long time, and Amaya was starting to get frustrated. Her anger grew everytime Ino dodged a hit, or landed one on her. She couldn't help but start to think back to when she was Sakura and was fighting Ino the time she took the Chuunin Exams. They were _equals_. No one won the match. Ino was her rival and Sakura wasn't able to beat her. But she was Amaya now, she was stronger. But she was still stuck in a standoff with Ino.

'_Why can't I beat you?'_ Amaya kept thinking to herself before she began to snap, "I AM NOT YOUR EQUAL!" she shouted in a harsh whisper as she reached out at Ino with the black air and grabbed her throat. The black air was thick around Ino's throat and thin enough around Ino's head to be able to see her struggling to breath but thick enough to where Ino couldn't get any oxygen.

Amaya had completely lost it. The rage written on her face and around her wide eyes made her appear psychotic. She continued to tighten her grip on Ino's throat. Genma would have tried to stop them but didn't know how to so he didn't interfere.

The audience watched in horror as Ino came close to her last breath. And just as Ino was about to die by Amaya's hand, Amaya heard a voice breathe into her ear, _Stop._

Like a trigger the black air retreated and Ino fell to the ground, unconscious but she would live.

Horror and shame struck into Amaya's eyes as she looked up at the person who had stopped her from killing Ino. _Gaara_. He stared down at her with a disapproving look and narrowed eyes. Amaya's turned her eyes away and hid them with her dark hair. She walked out of the arena without another word.

………….

Recap of the Third Round:

First Match: Amaya vs. Ino Winner:** Amaya**

Second Match: Kankuro vs. Neji Winner: **Kankuro**

Third Match: Temari vs. Kiba Winner: **Temari**

"Okay." Genma began to announce to the audience. "Because of the way this exam was set up the last match will be a battle between these three genin." He said gesturing over to Amaya, Temari, and Kankuro who he had called into the arena.

Amaya walked over to Genma. "We're a team." She said simply to him.

"Well, that's just how the tournament turned out. You guys will have to fight." Genma told her.

Temari and Kankuro walked over next to Genma to listen to the conversation about the match.

Amaya narrowed her eyes slightly at Genma. "I'm not going to fight my teammates. Anyone who betrays their teammates is not worthy to be a shinobi." And with that she walked out of the arena, without a single look back.

**A/N: Ok, look I'm really sorry that I didn't update this story sooner, I really am. I really like this story, its one of my favorites. I was busy with school, but I could have written this chapter in my free time but I kept putting it off because I'm not very good at writing fight scenes and dramatic scenes, I always rush things in them. And that's just a nice way of saying that I really suck at writing dramatic/fight scenes, this chapter was hard for me to write. **

**Now that I have finished with this chapter the rest should come pretty easy to me. I don't want to promise anything (since last time I said I would update in a few weeks) but I have the rest of the story planned out so, hopefully the next chapter will be up in a few weeks. Oh, and sorry if there is any OOCness in this chapter.**

**Please Review!**

**P.S. June 21****st****!! It's the first day of summer!! My birthday - partly the reason I updated this story today. So I hope you guys enjoyed it - see ya next time! Got to go eat my cake, it's Maximum Ride themed big surprise lol. Bye!!! Time for me to go get sugar high!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **


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